John-Henry Krueger wins short-track silver, ends U.S. medal drought
It’s seemed like ages since Mikaela Shiffrin won the gold medal in the Giant Slalom at the PyeongChang Games.
In reality, it was only on Thursday. But that was the last time an American won a medal at the Games with events since that have seen disappointing finishes from medal favorites Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn on the slopes and Nathan Chen on the ice.
Those performances have contributed to the U.S. being on pace for one of its worst medal showings in modern Winter Games history.
Short-track speed skater John-Henry Krueger stopped the bleeding on Saturday, securing a silver medal in an actioned-filled 1,000-meter final at the Gangneung Ice Arena.
Kreuger started on the inside in a final featuring two South Koreans, a Canadian and a Hungarian skater. When he crossed the finish line, only he and Canadian gold medalist Samuel Girard were standing.
Hungary’s Shaolin Sandor Liu wiped out in the final moments of the race, taking out South Korea’s Seo Yira and Lim Hyojun with him. Liu was disqualified, and Yira recovered to cross the finish line almost seven seconds after Krueger.
While it was a disappointing result for the South Korean home crowd, Krueger was elated, securing the ninth medal of the PyeongChang games for Team USA.
More Olympic coverage from Yahoo Sports:
• Vonn speaks on deadly Florida shooting: ‘I can’t understand it’
• Adelson: Holcomb’s legend lives on with U.S. bobsled team
• Vonn’s timeline filled with hate tweets after Super-G loss
• Wetzel: Rippon off to have a stiff drink with mission accomplished
• Adelson: Why Zhou could be star to watch at 2022 Olympics
